Systems and Methods of Cooling Blast Furnaces

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods provide a cooling device for a blast furnace that may prevent an excessive amount of coolant from entering the blat furnace and may be easily installed in a conventional blast furnace. Systems and methods may provide a cooling device for a blast furnace that may prevent an excessive amount of coolant from entering the blast furnace and may be simple and cost effective to manufacture. The end of a heat pipe ( 202 ) that is outside of the furnace may be configured to interact with a heat sink ( 210 ). The heat sink ( 210 ) may be for example, a separate amount of coolant that is circulated outside of the furnace, an evaporative cooling system, and/or any other system or method of cooling the heat pipe ( 202 ) that transfers heat from the heat pipe ( 202 ) to the heat sink ( 210 ). Because the coolant within the heat pipe ( 202 ) is sealed within the heat pipe ( 202 ), only the small, fixed amount of coolant that. is within the heat pipe ( 202 ) will enter the furnace should the cooling plate ( 200 ) rupture. Thus, substantial damage to the furnace, extensive repairs, and/or long periods of non-production may be avoided.

BACKGROUND

1. Related Technical Fields

Related fields include systems and methods for cooling blast furnaces.Related fields include cooling plates, cooling staves, cigar coolers,and tuyeres.

2. Related Art

Conventional blast furnaces cool the blast furnace with shell sprays,cooling plates, or more recently, cooling staves. Conventional coolingplates may be arranged in the tuyere breast, bosh, and/or stack of ablast furnace. The cooling plates may be inserted through an opening inthe shell of the furnace and may be interposed between a refractorylining. The cooling plates have cavities that provide passages. Coolant,such as, for example, water at an elevated pressure is pumped throughthe passages in order to cool the cooling plates. The cooled plates thuscool the refractory lining.

Conventional cooling staves are arranged within a blast furnace and arearranged substantially parallel to a steel shell of the blast furnace.The cooling staves typically cover the majority of the inner surface ofthe steel shell of the blast furnace. Refractory lining may be disposedon or around the surface of the stave. Staves also have cavities thatprovide passages. The passages are attached to one or more pipes thatextend from the furnace shell side of the stave and penetrate the steelshell. Coolant, such as, for example, water at an elevated pressure ispumped through the pipes and passages in order to cool the stave. Thecooled stave thus cools the refractory lining.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,154,175 to Gritsuk et al. (hereinafter “Gritsuk”)discloses a plate cooler (stave style) for a blast furnace including anumber of closed pipes containing coolant. The stave is arranged on theinside of a blast furnace wall either during construction of the blastfurnace or during non-operational repairs. The stave cooler is made ofat least two different materials and includes sealed pipes containingcoolant. Each of the pipes within the plate cooler requires an internalpartition in order to operate effectively. The sealed pipes transferheat to a separate cooling chamber that is outside of the furnace shell.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,572 to Sharp (hereinafter “Sharp”) discloses acooling plate to be installed within a furnace wall (plate style). Thecooling plate includes transversely disposed heat pipes. The heat pipesare sealed and contain a coolant. The cooling plate also includes alarge cooling chamber containing cooling fluid. The heat pipes transferheat from a furnace side of the pipes to a cooling chamber side of thepipes. The chamber containing cooling fluid is within the shell of thefurnace and is connected to an external coolant source.

SUMMARY

Within a blast furnace, the refractory lining, burden materials, and thecooling plates and/or staves may be subject to extreme mechanical wear,high temperatures, gas channeling, and other occurrences that may erodeand/or damage the refractory lining and cooling plates and/or staves.Frequently, such damage to the cooling plates and/or staves can resultin rupture of the plates and/or staves. If the internal passages areruptured, large volumes of cooling water may be discharged into thefurnace, especially if the passages are fed by an external source ofcoolant.

Uncontrolled coolant entering the blast furnace may cause operatingproblems and may damage the lining of the blast furnace. The damage maybe a loss of refractory lining exposing the steel shell to excessivetemperatures. Because the shell is typically both a pressure containingvessel and a structural support, it may be highly stressed. Thus, overheating the shell may result in buckling and/or rupture of the shell.The coolant may damage the lining locally or at any portion of thefurnace below the leak. Uncontrolled coolant entering the blast furnacemay cause molten material in the lower region of the furnace tosolidify. When uncontrolled coolant enters the blast furnace, the blastfurnace may be rendered inoperable until the damage is repaired. Suchrepair may be expensive, time consuming, and/or production inhibiting.

The stave cooler of Gritsuk attempts to alleviate the problem ofexcessive amounts of coolant entering the furnace by separating thecoolant in the stave, from the external coolant. However, the stavecooler of Gritsuk is complex. For example, it includes a plurality ofmaterials. The pipes in Gritsuk rely on evaporative cooling. Thus, thepipes require a complex split design. Furthermore, the stave cooler ofGritsuk is not configured to be installed in a conventional blastfurnace that uses conventional cooling plates. Accordingly, the stavecoolers of Gritsuk must be installed in a new furnace during itsconstruction. Alternatively, at least the shell and a large portion ofthe lining of an existing furnace would have to be redesigned andreplaced in order to retrofit a conventional furnace with the stavecooler of Gritsuk. Such a retrofitting would require shutting thefurnace down for an extended period (non-production time). Thus, aretrofit may be extremely costly due to the significant redesign andreplacement of components and extended non-production time.

The plate cooler of Sharp also separates the coolant in the pipes withinthe cooling plate from an external coolant. In Sharp, the coolant issealed within the pipes primarily to allow the pipes to move relative tothe cooling plate in order to adjust cooling amounts within the plate.Furthermore, the external coolant in Sharp enters at least a chamber ofthe plate that is within the furnace shell. Thus, if that chamber isruptured, an excessive amount of coolant may still enter the furnace.The pipes in Sharp are complex and contain a wick that significantlycomplicates the design and increases costs.

In light of at least the foregoing, it is beneficial to provide acooling device for a blast furnace that may prevent an excessive amountof coolant from entering the blast furnace and may be easily installedin a conventional blast furnace. It is beneficial to provide a coolingdevice for a blast furnace that may prevent an excessive amount ofcoolant from entering the blast furnace and may be simple and costeffective to manufacture.

It is also beneficial to provide a method for replacing a cooling devicein a blast furnace. The method may include replacing a conventionalcooling device in a blast furnace with a cooling device for a blastfurnace that may prevent an excessive amount of coolant from enteringthe blast furnace and may be easily installed in a conventional blastfurnace.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Exemplary implementations will be described with reference to thefollowing drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary blast furnace;

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary cooling plate installed in a blast furnace;

FIG. 3 shows a the exemplary cooling plate of FIG. 2 from line A-A′ tothe furnace end of the exemplary cooling plate;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary cooling stave installed in a blast furnace;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary cooling stave;

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary cooling stave that may be retrofit into aplate-type blast furnace;

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary “cigar-type” cooler; and

FIGS. 8(A)-8(C) show an exemplary tuyere including heat pipes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY IMPLEMENTATIONS

Blast furnaces may be used to convert iron bearing raw materials into aform that can be easily transformed into steel. A blast furnace istypically a large refractory lined steel vessel in which pellets and/orsinter, coke, and flux materials may be charged into the furnace top.High temperature air at high pressure may be blown into the bottom ofthe furnace. Molten iron and slag accumulate at the bottom of thefurnace and may be removed periodically. FIG. 1 shows an exemplary blastfurnace.

As shown in FIG. 1, the lower portion of the furnace is called thehearth. The steel jacket surrounding the hearth is vertical or slightlyconical. The jacket may be lined with refractory material (e.g., carbon,graphite, silicon carbide, and/or ceramics) and may be cooled withstaves or external shell sprays. The hearth bottom may be lined withrefractory material. One or more iron notches may be located on or abovethe hearth floor. The iron notches permit iron and or slag to be removedfrom the furnace.

A portion above the hearth is called the tuyere breast. In the tuyerebreast the steel jacket may have large holes through which the tuyeresand/or tuyere coolers may be inserted. The tuyere breast may includerefractory material adjacent to the steel wall with cooling plates,staves or cooling panels to cool the refractory material. Above thetuyere breast is the bosh. The bosh may taper out to the widest part ofthe furnace and may be lined with refractory. The bosh may also utilizespray cooling, cooling plates, or staves.

Above the bosh is the stack. The stack includes a long, sometimestapering, shell lined with refractory material. The refractory materialis typically cooled by cooling plates and/or staves. The top of thefurnace is typically cylindrical and is referred to as the stocklinesection. Typically, this area is not cooled and may use refractoryand/or cast or fabricated metal materials to protect the steel wallsfrom heat and abrasion.

Common types of blast furnaces in operation today utilize conventionalcooling plates. As described above, these conventional plates areinserted through corresponding holes in the shell of the furnace and areconnected to an external coolant source. This type of conventionalfurnace is the most numerous type in part because the conventionalcooling plate was the preferred method of cooling a blast furnace whenthe majority of the furnaces were built. Furthermore, the conventionalplates (when they have not ruptured causing extreme damage) may bereplaced without a significant burden on production. Thus, theseconventional furnaces have remained substantially in production for muchof their lives. As discussed above, the shutting down of a furnace formaintenance or upgrading may be cost prohibitive. Thus, theseconventional furnaces remain in operation.

However, because conventional plates are prone to catastrophic failure(i.e., allowing a substantial amount of coolant into the furnace) it isbeneficial to provide a cooling plate that may be installed in theexisting openings in a conventional furnace and that prevents asubstantial amount of coolant from entering the furnace if the plateruptures.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show an exemplary plate that may be installed in theexisting openings 270 in a conventional furnace and that prevent asubstantial amount of coolant from entering the furnace if the plateruptures. FIG. 2 shows the exemplary cooling plate installed in afurnace and FIG. 3 is a cut away view of the same exemplary coolingplate.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cooling plate 200 may be installed in the shell260 (e.g., a steel shell) of a blast furnace. The shell 260 may be linedwith refractory lining 250. The cooling plate 200 may contain a heatpipe 202 that contains an amount of coolant. The coolant may be forexample, any liquid and/or gas that is capable of transferring heat froma region of the cooling plate 200 within the furnace, to an end of thecooling plate 200 outside of the furnace. The cooling plate 200 may beconfigured to be easily inserted into the furnace shell 260 through anexisting hole 270 without substantial modification to the shell 260and/or refractory lining 250.

The end of the heat pipe 202 that is outside of the furnace may beconfigured to interact with a heat sink 210. The heat sink 210 may befor example, a separate amount of coolant that is circulated outside ofthe furnace, an evaporative cooling system, and/or any other system ormethod of cooling the heat pipe 202 that transfers heat from the heatpipe 202 to the heat sink 210. Because the coolant within the heat pipe202 is sealed within the heat pipe 202, only the small, fixed amount ofcoolant that is within the heat pipe 202 will enter the furnace shouldthe cooling plate 200 rupture. Thus, substantial damage to the furnace,extensive repairs, and/or long periods of non-production may be avoided.

It should be appreciated that the term “heat pipe” as used herein is notintended to describe any particular structure other than one or moresealed passages containing a fixed amount of coolant. The heat pipes 202are capable of transferring heat with or without using evaporativecooling and with or without the use of additional structures such as apartition or a wick. The heat pipes 202 may absorb the heat of thefurnace and/or refractory material 250 in a portion of the heat pipe 202substantially in a vicinity of the furnace and/or refractory material250 and transfer at least a portion of that absorbed heat to the heatsink 210 in a portion of the heat pipe 202 substantially outside of thefurnace.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cooling plate 200 may include one or more heatpipes 202, the heat pipes 202 may be arranged substantially parallel toone another with one end towards the interior of the furnace and theother end towards the exterior of the furnace. However, anyconfiguration may be used in which heat may be transferred by the heatpipe 202 from a portion of the heat pipe 202 inside the furnace to aportion of the heat pipe 202 outside the furnace. Furthermore, one ormore heat pipes 202 may intersect or contact one another and/or sharecoolant.

The cooling plate 200 may be made from a single material and at least aportion of the heat pipes 202 may be passages formed within thematerial. Thus, the cooling plates 200 may be simple and cost effectiveto manufacture.

Although many of the conventional blast furnaces operating today areconfigured to use conventional cooling plates, many conventional blastfurnaces operating today are configured to use conventional coolingstaves.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show an exemplary cooling stave that may be installed in aconventional furnace configured to use staves and that may prevent asubstantial amount of coolant from entering the furnace if the plateruptures. FIG. 4 shows the exemplary cooling stave installed in afurnace and FIG. 5 is another view of the exemplary cooling stave.

As shown in FIG. 4, the cooling stave 400 may be installed in the steelshell 260 of a blast furnace. The cooling stave 400 may contain a heatpipe 402 that contains an amount of coolant. The coolant may be forexample, any liquid and/or gas that is capable of transferring heat froma portion of the cooling stave 400 within the furnace, to one or moreportions of the cooling stave 400 outside of the furnace. Furthermore,the heat pipe 402 may include a reservoir 450 that contains an amount ofcoolant.

The heat pipe 402 may form a circular circuit of coolant that operatesas, for example, a thermosiphon. As the coolant in the heat pipe 402 isheated on the inside of the furnace, the coolant density changes (e.g.,becomes less). As the warm or hot coolant is cooled outside the furnace,the density increases. Due to gravity, the more dense (cooler) coolantoutside the furnace sinks to the lower part of the pipe. This forces theless dense coolant to the top of the stave where it is cooled. Thiscycle may perpetuate as long as there is a differential in temperature.

As shown in FIG. 4, in order to cool the coolant outside of the furnace,the heat pipe 402 may interact with another heat pipe 412. That heatpipe 412 may interact with the heat sink 210. Thus, heat may betransferred from heat pipe 402 to heat pipe 412 and then to the heatsink 210. Because each heat pipe 402, 412, may be sealed and contain aseparate amount of coolant; the coolant within the furnace (e.g., withinheat pipe 402) may be sufficiently separated from both the coolant inheat pipe 412 and any coolant associated with the heat sink 210. Onlythe small, fixed amount of coolant that is within the heat pipe 402 willenter the furnace should the cooling stave 400 rupture. Thus,substantial damage to the furnace, extensive repairs, and/or longperiods of non-production may be avoided.

The cooling stave 400 may be configured to be installed in the furnaceshell 260 through an existing hole or holes 470 without substantialmodification to the shell. However, substantially more work is requiredfor installing a cooling stave (conventional or otherwise). Forinstance, the stave may not be simply inserted through the existingholes 470 from the outside of the furnace, but must be inserted from theinside of the furnace. Such an installation may require the removaland/or reinstallation of a portion of the refractory lining 250. Such aninstallation may also require a longer non-production period compared tothe installation of, for example, cooling plate 200. However, noadditional work or non-production time is required than would otherwisebe necessary for replacing a conventional cooling stave with anotherconventional cooling stave.

As described above, the heat sink 210 may be for example, a separateamount of coolant that is circulated outside of the furnace, anevaporative cooling system, and/or any other system or method of coolingthe heat pipe 402 that transfers heat from the heat pipe 402 to the heatsink 210.

It should be appreciated that although FIG. 4 shows two separate heatpipes 402, 412, the heat pipe 402 may directly interact with the heatsink 210. Because the coolant within the heat pipe 402 is sealed withinthe heat pipe 402, only the small, fixed amount of coolant that iswithin the heat pipe 402 will enter the furnace should the cooling stave400 rupture. Thus, substantial damage to the furnace, extensive repairs,and/or long periods of non-production may be avoided. Furthermore, itshould be appreciated that the heat pipe 402, either used alone or inconjunction with other heat pipes 412 need not form a circuit. Rather,each of separate sealed ends extending from the shell 260 via holes 470may separately interact with and transfer heat to the heat sink 210

As shown in FIG. 5, the cooling stave 400 may include one or more heatpipes 402, the heat pipes 402 may be arranged substantially parallel toone another with at least a portion facing the interior of the furnaceand at least one end outside of the furnace. As discussed above,although FIG. 4 shows that a portion of the circuit formed by heatpipe(s) 402 is outside of the furnace and communicating with the heatsink 210, only one portion of the heat pipe(s) 402 may communicate withthe heat sink 210 and the heat pipe(s)s 402 need not form a circuit.Furthermore, any configuration of heat pipes 402 may be used in whichheat may be transferred by the heat pipe 402 from a portion of the heatpipe 402 inside the furnace to a portion of the heat pipe 402 outsidethe furnace. One or more heat pipes 402 may intersect or contact oneanother and/or share coolant.

The cooling stave 400 may be made fi-om a single material and at least aportion of the heat pipes 402 may be passages formed within thematerial. Thus, the cooling stave 400 may be simple and cost effectiveto manufacture.

FIG. 6 shows a cooling stave 600 adapted to be retrofit into a blastfurnace shell originally designed to utilize conventional coolingplates. As discussed above, when a conventional plate-cooler typefurnace is upgraded to a conventional stave-type blast furnace, theentire shell of the furnace may be redesigned and/or replaced. As shownin FIG. 6, the stave is configured such that at least some of the heatpipes 402 that extend from the stave 600 may extend through the existingholes 270 in the shell that were originally intended for conventionalcooling plates. If necessary, additional holes 610 may be drilled in theshell to accommodate additional heat pipes 402. This cooling stave 600maintains all of the advantages of the cooling stave 400 described above(including the disclosed variations). However, this cooling stave 600achieves the added benefit of using the conventional plate cooler-typeshell to incorporate the more modern stave cooling system without therequirement of a costly and time consuming shell change.

Frequently, during the normal operation of a blast furnace, a particularportion of, for example, the refractory material 250 and/or shell 260 inany of, for example, the tuyere breast, bosh, and/or stack may becomedamaged or worn. Since heat is usually a contributing factor to damageand/or increased wear in a blast furnace, one practice for slowing thedamage or wear of that portion of the furnace may include installationof a “cigar-type” cooler. FIG. 7 shows an exemplary cigar-type coolerinstalled in a furnace.

As shown in FIG. 7, the cigar cooler 700 may be installed in the shell260 of a blast furnace. However, instead of being installed in existingholes, a hole 770 may be drilled in the vicinity of the portion of thefurnace that is damaged or experiencing greater than normal wear. Asdiscussed above, the shell 260 may be lined with refractory lining 250.The cigar cooler 700 may contain one or more a heat pipes 702 thatcontain a fixed amount of coolant. The coolant may be, for example, anyliquid and/or gas that is capable of transferring heat from an end ofthe cigar cooler 700 within the furnace, to and end of the cigar cooler700 outside of the furnace. The cigar cooler 700 may be configured to beeasily inserted into the furnace shell 260 through the drilled hole 770without any other substantial modification to the shell 260 and/orrefractory lining 250.

The end of the heat pipe 702 that is outside of the furnace may beconfigured to interact with a heat sink 210. According to this example,the heat sink 210 may need to be moved into a vicinity of the cigarcooler 700, depending on where the hole 770 was drilled. Again, the heatsink may be for example, a separate amount of coolant that is circulatedoutside of the furnace, and evaporative cooling system, and/or any othersystem or method of cooling the heat pipe 702 that transfers heat fromthe heat pipe 702 to the heat sink 210. Because, the coolant within theheat pipe 702 is sealed within the heat pipe 702, only the small, fixedamount of coolant that is within the heat pipe 702 will enter thefurnace should the cigar cooler 700 rupture. Thus, substantial damage tothe furnace, extensive repairs, and/or long periods of non-productionmay be avoided.

By virtue of being installed in a drilled hole 770, the cigar cooler 700may be installed in a vicinity of the furnace that is damaged and/orexperiencing greater than normal wear. Accordingly, a temperature inthat area may be reduced and the damage and/or increased wear may beinhibited. Because the exemplary cigar cooler 700 may be installedthrough a drilled hole 770, it may be shaped to fit within that hole,for example, it may be substantially cylindrical (circular orotherwise), or any other shape capable of being installed in a drilledhole. Furthermore, due to its shape, the cigar cooler 700 may includeonly a single heat pipe 702.

However, the cigar cooler 700 may include one or more heat pipes 702,the heat pipes 702 may be arranged substantially parallel to one anotherwith at least a portion facing the interior of the furnace and at leastone end outside of the furnace. Furthermore, any configuration of heatpipes 702 may be used that allows the cigar cooler 700 to fit within thedrilled hole 770 and allows heat to be transferred by the heat pipe 702from a portion of the heat pipe 702 inside the furnace to a portion ofthe heat pipe 702 outside the furnace. Furthermore, one or more heatpipes 702 may intersect or contact one another and/or share coolant.

The cigar cooler 700 may be made from a single or composite material andat least a portion of the heat pipe 702 may be a passage formed withinthe material. Thus, the cigar cooler 700 may be simple and costeffective to manufacture.

It should be appreciated that FIGS. 2 and 7 only show a representativeamount of the refractory material 250. Depending on, for example, thedesign, composition, age, and rate of wear of the refractory material250, there may be more or less refractory material 250 and it may beconfigured differently (e.g., an amount may be include between theexemplary cooling stave 400 and the furnace shell 260).

It should be appreciated that although the heat sink 210 is shownrelatively close to the outside of the furnace shell, the heat sink maybe any distance form the outside of the furnace as long as one or moreheat pipes are capable of transferring heat within the furnace to theheat sink. In some cases it may be beneficial to have the heat sink 210a substantial distance from the shell 260 to insure that no coolantassociated with the heat sink may enter the shell 260 if a portion ofthe shell 260, plate coolers 200, stave coolers 400, 600, and cigarcoolers 700, including the variants thereof, become damaged.

It should be appreciated that the above-described plate coolers 200,stave coolers 400, 600, and cigar coolers 700, including the variantsthereof, may be utilized throughout the blast furnace including, forexample, in the tuyere breast, bosh, stack, substantially in a vicinityof the iron notches, and/or any other area that may be susceptible toheat damage within a blast furnace. The above-described plate coolers200, stave coolers 400, 600, and cigar coolers 700, including thevariants thereof, may be particularly advantageous when used in an areasubstantially in a vicinity of the iron notches. When a large amount ofcoolant comes in contact with molten iron, the result can be explosive.Thus, if a conventional plate cooler or stave cooler were to rupture inthe vicinity of the iron notches (containing molten iron) the coolantmay contact the molten iron. A resulting explosion could causesignificant damage to the furnace.

For example, FIGS. 8(A)-8(C) shows an exemplary tuyere 800 for use incooling tuyeres. As discussed above, in the tuyere breast, the steeljacket may have large holes (tuyeres) in which the tuyere coolers may beinserted. During operation of the blast furnace, air is forced throughthe tuyeres to facilitate combustion. As a result, the tuyeres, tuyerecoolers and any refractory lining around the tuyeres are subject toextreme heat.

As shown in FIGS. 8(A)-8(C), the tuyere 800, itself may include heatpipes 802. The heat pipes 802 may be configured and operate in a similarmanner as discussed above. However, the tuyere 800 may be formed in asubstantially conical shape, having a substantially conical cylindricalopening through which air may be forced into the furnace. Specifically,according to the example in FIGS. 8(A)-8(C), the tuyere 800 may be inthe form of a substantially annular circular conical frustum. However,the tuyere 800 may take any shape having a hollow portion allowing airinto the blast furnace. The heat pipes 802 may be configured in anymanner along the length of the tuyere 800 such that heat absorbed by anend of the heat pipes 802 inside the blast furnace may transfer theabsorbed heat to an end of the heat pipes 802 outside of the blastfurnace. At the end outside of the blast furnace, the heat may betransferred to a heat sink.

The tuyere 800 may be configured to be easily inserted into the tuyerebreast through an existing tuyere opening without substantialmodification to the furnace shell and/or refractory lining. However, anyconfiguration may be used in which heat may be transferred by the heatpipe 202 from a portion of the heat pipe 202 inside the furnace to aportion of the heat pipe 202 outside the furnace. Furthermore, one ormore heat pipes 202 may intersect or contact one another and/or sharecoolant.

By utilizing the above-described plate coolers 200, stave coolers 400,600, cigar coolers 700, and tuyeres 800, including the variants thereof,substantially in a vicinity of the iron notches, the amount of coolantthat may enter the furnace may be limited only to that coolant withinthe heat pipe(s) 202, 402, 702. Thus, by reducing the amount of coolantthat may enter the furnace, the chances of an explosion due to coolantcontacting the molten iron may be reduced as well.

According to the above-described examples, the majority of conventionalblast furnaces may be upgraded to include cooling plates and/or coolingstaves that may prevent a substantial amount of coolant from enteringthe furnace if a cooling plate and/or cooling stave ruptures.Furthermore, the upgrade may be undertaken with substantially the sameresource expenditure, time expenditure, and/or non-production time thatwould otherwise be necessary to replace the conventional cooling platesand/or staves with more conventional cooling plates and/or staves.

According to the above-described examples, the cooling plates, coolingstaves, cigar coolers, and or tuyeres may be made of a single materialand at least a portion of the heat pipes therein may be a passage formedwithin the material. Thus, the cooling plates, cooling staves, cigarcoolers, and/or tuyeres may be simple and cost effective to manufacture.

According to the above-described examples, if a certain portion of theblast furnace is damaged or experiencing greater than average wear,holes may be drilled and cigar coolers may be inserted to reduce thetemperature in that area. The cigar cooler may prevent a substantialamount of coolant from entering the furnace if the cigar coolerruptures.

While various features of this invention have been described inconjunction with the examples outlined above, various alternatives,modifications, variations, and/or improvements of those features may bepossible. Accordingly, the various examples, as set forth above, areintended to be illustrative. Various changes may be made withoutdeparting from the broad spirit and scope of underling principles.

1. A device for exchanging heat between an inside of a blast furnace andan outside of the blast furnace, comprising: a body configured to be atleast partially inserted into an opening in the blast furnace; and atleast one cavity disposed within the body, each of the at least onecavities extending from substantially one end of the body tosubstantially an opposite end of the body, each of the at least onecavities capable of containing coolant; wherein the body is configuredto transfer heat between a coolant contained within each of the at leastone cavities and a heat sink outside of the blast furnace, and when thebody is inserted into the opening of the blast furnace and each of theat least one cavities contains the coolant: the one end of the body isexposed to heat generated by the blast furnace and the opposite end ofthe body is exposed to the outside of the blast furnace; heat isabsorbed by the coolant in a portion of the cavity in the vicinity ofthe one end of the body and is transferred to the coolant in a portionof the cavity in the vicinity of the opposite end of the body; the heatin the portion of the cavity in the vicinity of the opposite end of thebody is transferred from the coolant, through the body, to the heatsink; and the body forms a barrier between the coolant and the heat sinksuch that substantially none of the coolant within each of the at leastone cavities is in direct contact with the heat sink.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the body is configured to be at least partiallyinserted into an existing opening in the blast furnace withoutsubstantial modification to the existing opening.
 3. The device of claim1, wherein the body is at least partially copper.
 4. The device of claim1, wherein the body is in the form of a plate cooler.
 5. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the body is in the form of a cooling stave.
 6. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the body is in the form of a cigar cooler. 7.The device of claim 1, wherein the body is configured to be inserted inan existing hole in a vicinity of an iron notches portion of the blastfurnace.
 8. The device of claim 1, wherein the body is configured to beinserted in an existing hole in a vicinity of a bosh portion of theblast furnace.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein the body is configuredto be inserted in an existing hole in a vicinity of a stack portion ofthe blast furnace.
 10. The device of claim 1, wherein the body isconfigured to be inserted in an existing hole in a vicinity of a tuyerebreast portion of a blast furnace.
 11. The device of claim 10, whereinthe body is a substantially annular circular conical frustum.
 12. Amethod of replacing a cooling device within a blast furnace, comprising:removing the cooling device from the blast furnace; and inserting thecooling device of claim 1 into an opening in the blast furnacepreviously occupied by the removed cooling device.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, further comprising: avoiding substantial modification to ashell or a refractory lining of the blast furnace.
 14. A method ofcooling a blast furnace, comprising: at least partially inserting a bodyinto an opening in the blast furnace, at least one cavity disposedwithin the body, each of the at least one cavities extending fromsubstantially one end of the body to substantially an opposite end ofthe body, each of the at least one cavities containing coolant, the bodybeing configured to transfer heat between the coolant contained withineach of the at least one cavities and a heat sink outside of the blastfurnace; exposing the one end of the body to heat generated by the blastfurnace; exposing the opposite end of the body to the outside of theblast furnace; absorbing, with the coolant, heat in a portion of thecavity in the vicinity of the one end of the body; transferring theabsorbed heat to the coolant in a portion of the cavity in the vicinityof the opposite end of the body; and transferring the heat in theportion of the cavity in the vicinity of the opposite end of the bodyfrom the coolant, through the body, to the heat sink; wherein the bodyforms a barrier between the coolant and the heat sink such thatsubstantially none of the coolant within each of the at least onecavities is in direct contact with the heat sink.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein at least partially inserting the body into the openingin the blast furnace comprises, inserting the body into an existingopening in the blast furnace without substantial modification to theexisting opening.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein at least partiallyinserting the body into the opening in the blast furnace comprisesinserting the body in an existing hole in a vicinity of an iron notchesportion of the blast furnace.
 17. The method of claim 14, wherein atleast partially inserting the body into the opening in the blast furnacecomprises inserting the body in an existing hole in a vicinity of a boshportion of the blast furnace.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein atleast partially inserting the body into the opening in the blast furnacecomprises inserting the body in an existing hole in a vicinity of astack portion of the blast furnace.
 19. The method of claim 14, whereinat least partially inserting the body into the opening in the blastfurnace comprises inserting the body in an existing hole in a vicinityof a tuyere breast portion of the blast furnace.